London 2012 organisers insist it is “inconceivable” that Olympics officials
could make the same kind of mistake as the nine-hurdle bungle that marred
Sunday’s Powerade Great City Games in Manchester.

World heptathlon silver medallist Jessica Ennis was left fuming after beating two of the world’s best sprint hurdlers and running what she thought was a 100 metres hurdles personal best only to be told that race officials had put out only nine sets of hurdles instead of the required 10.

The mistake, described by Ennis as a “massive, massive mess-up”, was reported all around the world and raised questions about the competence of British technical officials just two months before the start of the London Games.

But the London Organising Committee of the Games said officials working in the Olympic Stadium this summer would be the most respected and experienced in their fields in the world and there was no chance of a repeat.

“Our technical officials are the best in the world, and would typically have vast experience of grand prix events and of previous Olympic Games,” said a Locog spokesman. “They also go through a rigorous selection process involving the IAAF and UK Athletics before appointment for London 2012.”

Nova International, the organisers of the Manchester event, initially blamed the mix-up on “leading UK Athletics officials” whom it said it employed to manage the technical aspects of the races but has now accepted that UK Athletics played no part in the fiasco.

It is understood that although the officials involved were licensed by UK Athletics, they were not selected or signed off for the event by the governing body but were hired directly by Nova. None of them are involved in officiating at the London Olympics.

Brendan Foster, the BBC pundit and former athlete who founded Nova, has since apologised to UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos as well as to Ennis and the three other athletes in the race.

“Our guys take full responsibility,” said Foster. “For us it is very embarrassing. We’re very sorry. We’ve apologised to all the athletes and particularly to Jess. Our guys feel sorry we’ve let them all down. It wasn’t UK Athletics’ fault, it was our fault, and we take full responsibility.

“Our guys are mortified. We deserve a kick up the backside and we deserve to be castigated. It was human error and we’re sorry for it.”

Track and field events in London will be overseen by a mixture of ‘international technical officials’ selected by the International Association of Athletics Federations and ‘national technical officials’ recruited by UK Athletics. All are said to be the “crème de la crème” of officialdom and will undergo additional training before the Games.